Emma Raducanu brutally reveals her biggest failure

Sometimes tennis can be scary, it can make young tennis players feel older; Emma Raducanu’s confession perfectly analyzes what was said. The British player represents one of the most particular cases in the world of tennis in recent years. Emma suddenly managed to amaze the world with the victory of the US Open 2021 but, since that day, she has never achieved those results again, alternating constant ups and downs and living with some serious injuries. The British tennis player made interesting statements to Marie Claire, revealing what the repercussions of her professional career have been on her mental health.

“Winning the US Open was the highlight of my career. It has brought many challenges and I think what it has given me outweighs everything else. Confidence is important to get through difficult times, they are really inevitable. You will face setbacks and injuries in life, you will be overwhelmed by fear but all of that is necessary if you want to achieve great things. The biggest lesson I have learned when it comes to recovering from an injury is not to rush. My impatience is one of my biggest failures, I basically rushed the recovery process and delayed my return by many months. Often almost double the recovery time, sometimes your mind makes you push but over time you realize you are going backwards.

I am a very independent person and I love spending time alone. Often there are a lot of people around me, I like to have a few hours alone where I do nothing productive but only what I enjoy. I don’t know, maybe I’m on the phone or I read a little or maybe I shop online. Having that time to relax is essential, I wouldn’t even be able to sleep if I didn’t. In tennis it’s easy to panic, I’m guilty of that, you think about the fact that you might only have 10 years of career and then soon it will all be over. Sometimes I feel old at 21, then I reflect and remember that I have over 10 years of Slams to play and a lot of things can happen. Then there is a life beyond tennis and that has to be fundamental for me,” she said.

As for me, I agree with Emma’s words, and I struggle to understand those who criticize her. She is just a 21-year-old girl, with passions and hobbies that boys her age have. Instead of criticizing, why not try to understand?

In another interview with Tennis Magazin the 21-year-old talked about the bad period she went through and her expectations for the coming months. The British girl experienced the nightmare of physical problems as an opportunity for personal growth, getting to know herself better.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned to feel good outside of tennis, where you always have to be healthy and hungry. That doesn’t necessarily happen in practice and matches, where I have to keep the edge and the spark in my game, even though I was eager to get back to playing after the break. It can be exhausting to play week in and week out on tour, fulfilling all the obligations that come with being a professional tennis player. For me, the best solution is to do things my way, that’s what’s always worked for me. The concept has changed for me, in the long run it means staying healthy.

It’s about doing everything you can, not so much to train hard, but to train smart and not get injured. I’ve had the opportunity to experience how time flies when you can’t train or play for a long time. It’s not a fun situation. Success means I do everything I can to make sure I’m able to train and stay healthy. It’s a challenge, but I’m in the process of finding my way and learning new lessons. Learning to handle certain situations, to react to them. I have to learn all this in the eyes of the world audience, so learning comes after the results. For most young people, learning comes first and then the result, but in my case it was the opposite with the US Open title, from which I then had to learn afterwards.

In the end you see it as a blessing, because most tennis players have to struggle financially at the beginning of their career, but thanks to that title I no longer had this problem. At my young age I have had as much life experience as some forty-year-olds do, so I am very grateful and happy. In the last three years, the depth of women’s tennis has increased enormously again. There are more and more players who can win every tournament, and the results prove it.

Sure, there are some dominant players on the tour, but victory and defeat are always close. The level of many players depends on several factors, including their current form. I realized it myself at the US Open 2021, where my form was fantastic for three weeks, allowing me to win one of the most important tournaments in the world. What has improved a lot are the defensive qualities of the players, which have improved a lot since I grew up in tennis. Every player is now an athlete and has better skills on the court,” she said.

Raducanu concluded by revealing her expectations for this second part of the season: “I have reassessed my goals for this year several times, I think my goals change a lot. My priority is to develop my game, which means I probably won’t play many tournaments this year. I don’t want to make up for lost time in 2023 by only playing tournaments, but to build a concrete and important base to be in good physical and game shape over the next few years.”